Not Sure How I Feel About A Black Actor Playing Queen Ann Boleyn.

[Gracie]

I know I know. Eric the Red could be played by an CGI younger Morgan Freeman. That should go over well.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

It's racist!
The Black gets decapitated. Fair substitution.

Greg

She looks like a thumbprint with teeth. This creature could never be Anne of a Thousand Days.

 

[MaryL]

Amos N' Andy on BBC, accept its blacks pretending to be King Henry the VIII or Queen Elizbeth IS BLACK because it suits fleeting popular BULLSHIT.

 

[Batcat]

Channel 5 sparks race row casting black actress as Anne Boleyn in new drama

CHANNEL 5 has sparked a race row after casting black actress Jodie Turner-Smith as Tudor queen Anne Boleyn in a new period drama. The Queen & Slim star will play the second wife of King Henry V…

www.thesun.co.uk

On the one hand, I fully support Black, Gay, Trans people (i.e. people who have been traditionally discriminated against in all forms of employment) getting their fair share of acting roles.
On the other hand, I'm a stickler for historical accuracy and if a production is based on true life events it must not deviate in any way. I can only accept artistic licence if something is not known as a means of filling in the gaps.
So with that in mind, I am genuinely perplexed that a drama depicting the life of HenryVIII second wife Queen Ann Boleyn is to be played by Jodie Turner-Smith.

View attachment 492541

While I have little doubt that Jodie is a very capable Actor, one can tell by looking at her that she is of Black African decent, not White Anglo Saxon as was Ann Boleyn. To my mind it will spoil the drama before I've even seen it. No matter how good an actress Jodie is she will need to be incredible for the audience to dispel the fact she is black from our minds and thus could not possibly be Queen Ann Boleyn. It is particularly significant in the case of the Tudors as, like Queen Elizabeth l, they used white powder to lighten their skin. Aristocratic ladies in Tudor times had to look the 'fair maiden' to differentiate themselves from working women who were unable to prevent the sun tanning their skin.
View attachment 492545View attachment 492544 View attachment 492546
Queen Ann Boleyn As usually portraid Queen Elizabeth I. Ann Boleyn's daughter
from a painting................................................................................................From a painting.

View attachment 492547
Jodie Turner-Smith as Queen Ann Boleyn

Maybe I'm just being too set in my ideas and inwilling to change, but I would feel the same way if a White actor was given the role of Rosa Parkes, or Hitler was played by a Black Rastafarian complete with dreadlocks.
Some things just go too far.
The question I keep asking myself is why?

I wonder how black people would feel about a white actor paying MLK or the Zulu leader Shaka.

Shaka: The Zulu Warrior Chieftain Hailed As The "African Napoleon"

The Zulus were a small tribe of some 1,500 before Shaka took the helm. At the peak of his reign, Shaka oversaw a dominion of 250,000.

allthatsinteresting.com

 

[Gracie]

I remember Amos and Andy! I just don't remember episodes.

 

[Polishprince]

1562 was the first time a slaver brought in africans to brittain. Slavery was abolished in brittain around 1860 ir so. Anne was queen in 1533.

CAN'T CHANGE HISTORY and it go over well.

Did the Romans bring any Africans to Britain when they ruled the land in antiquity?

 

[Gracie]

More viking movies...all played by hispanics. As they reach shore and battle, they yell ARRRIBBBAAAA!

 

[Polishprince]

I remember Amos and Andy! I just don't remember episodes.

Amos and Andy were played by white guys on the radio but black guys on TV.

 

[braalian]

She looks like a thumbprint with teeth. This creature could never be Anne of a Thousand Days.

Now, now. She’s a pretty lady and probably a good actress. No need to be like that.

But she should definitely not be playing a white, English queen. It’s cultural appropriation .

 

[Gracie]

Did the Romans bring any Africans to Britain when they ruled the land in antiquity?

Not that I know of. And if they did, it was as slaves, NOT royalty or as a Caesar. But..give it time. Pretty sure a Caesar will be asian or a transgender. Maybe even Ru Paul could play that part.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

I remember Jeff Chandler playing Cochise. Pretty much every native american character was played by a white actor. Donna Reed represented pretty much every tribe in her career,
Ava Gardner played a black woman in Showboat. It didnt stop people enjoying those films but it did deny work for actors who were native american or black.

Watch the film and see what you think. It might be good or it might be rubbish.

There weren't any. Not many. Jeff Chandler had makeup to darken his skin. Put white makeup on the black Bolyn. See how it goes.
Today we have quite a number of Native actors. They weren't there years ago.

 

[Gracie]

I have the gem of all ideas:

Lucy, discovered in Africa, was found in Sweden. Boy, that would go over REAL well with blacks, right?

 

[Gracie]

All the points I am posting is exactly what Candace was saying, but the ariticle called her racist. What a fucking crock of shit.

A white guy playing Obama...and identifying as white, not half black. Oh, the rioting that would commence with that one, dontcha think?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

The Boomers are so easily triggered.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Now, now. She’s a pretty lady and probably a good actress. No need to be like that.

But she should definitely not be playing a white, English queen. It’s cultural appropriation .

How can you tell if she's pretty? All you can see is a black smudge and teeth. Rather like the Cheshire Cat.

 

[Gracie]

In Britain, as in the United States, the anti-racism protests that have erupted since the police killing of George Floyd in late May have reinvigorated campaigns for reparations for slavery. Having only recently acknowledged their historical links to slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, British universities and London financial institutions are facing calls to make amends for past injustices and pay reparations to the descendants of enslaved people.

But one institution has remained silent: the British monarchy. Still, it’s no secret that the history of the British royal family is intertwined with slavery.

The slave-trading initiatives endorsed by the English monarchy began with Queen Elizabeth I’s enthusiastic support of John Hawkins’ slaving expeditions in the 1560s. In three separate voyages backed by government officials, London merchants, and the queen, Hawkins raided African settlements on the West African coast and seized hundreds of enslaved captives from Portuguese ships. In defiance of Portugal’s dominance over the European slave trade in Africans, Hawkins sold his cargo of African captives in the Spanish Caribbean. After his profitable second voyage, the queen honored Hawkins with a coat of arms and crest featuring a nude African bound with rope.

It’s Time for the British Royal Family to Make Amends for Centuries of Profiting From Slavery

An empire built on the backs and blood of enslaved Africans.

slate.com

 

[Gracie]

Ya don't change history and expect all to go along with it any more than changing history with a portrayal of that historical figure as another race. Just ain't right.

 

[Gracie]

Another point to muse on:

Since it was not cool to use white actors as native americans in westerns back then, why is it cool for black actors to play white parts? Repeat of history of Hollyweirds mental issues of wokeness?

Lets have Chris Helmsworth play Xi. That ok with everyone?

 

[Gracie]

I see the thread was merged. Which is fine. I DID look to see if another thread was of the same vein and none showed up, so.......

 

[monkrules]

Well how P-E-D-A-N-T-I-C. Did I spell that correctly?

Maryl, my post was meant to be humorous, not critical. That's why I added the "Lol" at the end of the post. Guess I should have added a "laughing" emoticon.

Have a nice day.